USAF reactivates 308th Fighter Squadron for F-35As at Luke AFB

The US Air Force (USAF) has revived the 308th Fighter Squadron (FS) to house the F-35A Lightning II joint strike fighter (JSF) jets of the Royal Netherlands Air Force and the Royal Danish Air Force.

The 308th FS has been placed at Luke Air Force Base (AFB) and will help train the F-35A pilots of the Dutch and the Danish airforces alongside USAF pilots.

In the next two years, the Dutch and Danish F-35As will arrive at Luke AFB and be stationed at the FS.

The 308th FS is set to commence operations this month and will be commanded by lieutenant colonel Robert Miller.

Miller said: “The 308th FS is the fourth F-35 squadron at Luke, but the most important part of this activation is that we will be with two partner nations.

“The F-35 JSF is a fifth-generation multirole fighter aircraft designed for various ground attack, reconnaissance and air defence missions with stealth capability.”

“In a few weeks, the Dutch will start their F-35 training followed by the Danes.”

The 308th FS was constituted on 30 January 1942 and was stood down in June 2015 after 73 years of service.

Luke AFB is serving as an F-35A training site for ten foreign countries, including Canada, Turkey and South Korea.

Miller added: “The trust that we build at Luke with our partners is critical to our success on the battlefield. The opportunity to train, learn and be together is unparalleled elsewhere. We are changing the way our airforce and other nations prepare for war.”

Manufactured by Lockheed Martin in three variants, the F-35 JSF is a fifth-generation multirole fighter aircraft designed for various ground attack, reconnaissance and air defence missions with stealth capability.